Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pressure welding contact and a pressure welding connector. In particular, it relates to a pressure welding contact for pressure weld-connecting a terminal of an electric wire, and to the structure of a pressure welding connector provided with this pressure welding contact.
Related Art
In order to electrically and mechanically detachably connect wires to wires, or wires to printed circuit boards, electric connectors are widely used. Electric connectors for electric wires are provided with contacts where the terminals of electric wires are hard wired by crimping or pressure welding.
Pressure welding connections can electrically connect a core wire and a contact upon insertion of a terminal of a wire (an insulating covered wire) from an outer circumferential direction into a slot formed in a contact, by both side faces of the slot cutting into the insulation covering. In pressure welding connections, the insulation covering of the terminal of the electric wire is detached and the like, and this can shorten the processing time required for hard wiring because a termination treatment for crimping connections is unnecessary. Further, pressure welding connections, compared to crimping connections, have the advantage of not being readily influenced by the technique of the operator.
As such a pressure welding connector provided with a pressure welding contact, for example, the disclosure of Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2000-67988 (below referred to as Patent Document 1) may be mentioned. Patent Document 1 discloses a pressure welding connector which due to an overhanging flange-shaped projecting piece along a bottom back end of a housing, can be easily held by fingers, and has good assembly workability.
Further, for example, the disclosure of Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2005-294217 (below referred to as Patent Document 2) may be mentioned. Patent Document 2 discloses a pressure welding contact which can ensure a resilient pressure welding state with a mating connectors even when the size is small, and an electrical connector using the same.
In Patent Document 1, the pressure welding connector has, in its inner portion, a plurality of pressure welded contacts hard wired by pressure welding the terminals of respective electric wires. The pressure welding connector can connect with the pin contacts of a mating connector. The contact attachment portion in the pressure welding contact is constituted of a pair of clamped pieces. The pin contact is inserted between the pair of clamped pieces, from a direction orthogonal to the direction of opening and closing the tip portions of the pair of clamped pieces.
According to the above constitution, when the pin contact is inserted between the pair of clamped pieces, it is necessary to insert the pin contact against the bending stress in the opening and closing direction of the pair of clamped pieces.
For the pressure welding connector, from the viewpoint of high density mounting, the width (height) of the housing of the pressure welding connector is made small. Therefore, the distance from the fixed ends of the clamped pieces to the point of contact with the pin contact is necessarily made short, and the insertion and extraction force of the pin contact is generally large. As the number of poles of the contact becomes large, the above mentioned insertion and extraction force becomes great, and it not easy to attach and detach the pressure welding connector and the mating connector.
In Patent Document 2, the pressure welding connector having in its inner portion a plurality of pressure welding contacts hard wired by pressure welding of the terminals of the respective electric wires can be connected with a blade contact of the mating connector. The contact portion of the contact in the pressure welding contact is constituted by a pair of clamped pieces. The contact connecting piece of the blade contact is inserted between the pair of clamped pieces from a direction orthogonal to the direction of the opening and closing of the tip portions of the pair of clamped pieces.
According to the above constitution, when it is attempted to insert the contact connecting piece between the pair of clamped pieces, it is necessary to insert the contact connecting piece against the bending stress in the opening and closing direction of the pair of clamped pieces.
In Patent Document 2, in the same way as Patent Document 1, for the pressure welding connector, from the viewpoint of high density mounting, the height of the housing of the pressure welding connector is made small. Therefore, the distance from the fixed ends of the clamped pieces to the point of contact with the pin contact is necessarily made short, and the insertion and extraction force of the pin contact is generally large. As the number of poles of the contact becomes large, the above mentioned insertion and extraction force becomes great, and it not easy to attach and detach the pressure welding connector and the mating connector.
Generally, a pressure welding contact (simply referred to as “contact”) is produced by press molding a metal plate which has been expanded after punch die processing. Such contacts are produced by press molding a plurality in one batch. Such contacts are joined by a continuous strip-shaped contact carrier, and continuously press molded.
The contacts in a state joined on the contact carrier are referred to as concatenated contacts. The concatenated contacts wound on a reel are taken out, and continuously joined with an electric wire by an automatic crimping device or the like.
Such contacts, in a state of a developed plate having undergone punching processing, the pair of clamped pieces are disposed approximately parallel to a direction of extension of the contact carrier.
Namely, in the case that the contact is produced as concatenated contacts, the pitch of the concatenated contacts, without becoming shorter due to the size of the pair of clamped pieces, and there is a substantial difference from the pitch of fixing the pressure welding contacts to the housing.
The present invention has the objective of providing a pressure welding contact and a pressure welding connector wherein the mating contacts and mating connectors are easily attached and detached, and which make it possible to make short the pitch of the concatenated contacts.